Recently, the MMRCL announced that it will construct underground walkways at BKC and Worli to make travel to Aqua Line Metro stations easier for commuters. The government has already spent around Rs 900
crore on walkways in Mumbai in the last few years.
However, some of these walkways are rarely used, making them isolated places where, quite often, antisocial activities thrive. This kind of confirms that the entire purpose of these underground tunnels and/or skywalks has failed. There have been instances where the walks have been demolished after a few years of building because they were not being used.
On this backdrop, how much sense does spending money on new underground walks make? Urban planner at Urban Centre Mumbai, Urban Centre Trust, Urmi Kenia says, “Underground tunnels/subways and skywalks for pedestrians have not always been successful in Mumbai. Take the examples of Bandra West, Nana Chowk and Andheri East skywalks, and Mahim and Bandra East subways, which just became superfluous infrastructure, barely used.”
